Fleur de Lis
by Ceaena
Summary: Syaoran and crew end up in yet another new world with yet another feather to find. Now if they could just find Fai...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: CLAMP understands the concept of "fanfiction" only too well.

Spoilers: Very, very brief reference to the Sharano arc; future chapters will have warnings as appropriate.

Pairings: May contain trace amounts of Kurogane/Fai (Sakura/Syaoran is a given)

A/N: I've been trying to wrap my mind around Fai's warped little psyche for a while now, and this is a much more fun way to get my thoughts in order than an essay would be. New chapters will come out rather (read: exceedingly) slowly, I'm afraid, partially because I'm taking summer classes, partially because I'm still debating an important plot point, and partially because I'm really just that slow a writer. Still, this is my first time writing an actual chaptered story, much less one with anything resembling a structured plot, so I'm committed to finishing it.

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Fleur-de-Lis

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"Ugh!" Kurogane grunted as he landed in a somewhat undignified position on ground that was rather colder than he'd anticipated. He stood up, hand moving instinctively to rest on the hilt of his sword as he glanced around whatever world the white manjuu had landed them in _this_ time.

It certainly wasn't Japan, Kurogane grumbled to himself, ignoring the small "Oof!" in the background as Syaoran hit the ground and the rather louder "OOF!" as Sakura hit Syaoran. They had landed on an icy plain, flat and colorless and completely unsympathetic. Kurogane would have been mortally offended if anyone dared suggest that he was the kind of romantic who would anthropomorphize his surroundings; he left that to the princess, whose excuse was that she was young and that the surroundings ended up talking to her half the time anyway, and to the wizard, whose excuse was that he was an idiot. Even so, he was aware of a vague, persistent feeling in the back of his mind that whether they lived or died would have no effect here at all; the area would remain unchanging even in the face of one of the feathers' power. The dead silence probably contributed to that impression, as did the cold; the air was so sharp that it was painful to draw breath. It would be nearly unbearable when the wind picked up, Kurogane noted, shifting his weight and listening to the crunch of ice and permafrost beneath him.

"Where's Fai-san?" Syaoran asked worriedly, interrupting Kurogane's assessment. Kurogane snapped his head around, taking in the scene – the kid holding the shivering princess protectively, both of them wrapped up in the kid's cloak as best they could, the white manjuu clutched tightly against her chest for additional body heat (though Kurogane being Kurogane, he had his doubts about the purity of the manjuu's intentions). It was just as the kid said, though; the wizard was nowhere to be seen.

Well, that explained the unnatural silence, anyway.

"Moko-chan?" Sakura asked, voice shaking in time with her shivers. Even Kurogane had to admit that it was unpleasant, and the princess's clothes were hardly suited for harsh weather.

"Mokona doesn't know!" Mokona whimpered, snuggling closer to Sakura (and only confirming Kurogane's suspicions in his own mind).

"Could he have been dropped somewhere else again?" Syaoran asked, calmly and logically, shifting a little so he could look directly at Mokona (and, indirectly, at Sakura's chest, but Kurogane wasn't suspicious at all, because this was the _kid_. The wizard had once suggested that it was about time _someone_ gave the boy The Talk, and he would be glad to draw Kuro-myuu some diagrams to help his discussion along. Kurogane's reply to that particular suggestion ended up getting them forever barred from the shop they had been in and necessitated their staying in that world an extra three days to earn enough money to pay for the damages).

Mokona just shook its head. "Don't know," it repeated miserably.

"Ch," Kurogane growled, stalking off to the right. "That guy's more trouble than he's worth."

"Ah, Kurogane-san, wait!" Syaoran called as he and Sakura tried to untangle themselves enough to walk, shifting around in a futile attempt to find a position in which both of them could stay under Syaoran's cloak and keep up with Kurogane at the same time. "Where are you going?" he panted as they caught up.

"There's no point hunting around for him; we'd be able to see the idiot from miles away," Kurogane retorted, gesturing toward the unbroken expanse around them. "Meanwhile, we're all gonna freeze our asses off if we don't get some shelter soon."

Syaoran blinked and raised his hand to shield his eyes against the glitter of sun on ice. "I see – there's something dark on the horizon this direction!"

"Ah," Kurogane grunted affirmatively. He glanced at Syaoran, who nodded and drew the princess a little closer under the pretense of adjusting the cloak. They both knew that people were often shaped by their environments, and this one was hardly welcoming.

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After an interminable walk (Sakura and Syaoran had to half-trot to keep up with Kurogane's long stride), the dark smudge revealed itself to be a wide clump of stunted, dark-leaved trees that gnarled in on themselves until the trunks appeared twice as thick as they were. By mutual unspoken agreement, the group paused in the relative shelter of the scraggly grove to rest for a moment.

Mokona, who had had a rather more pleasant journey than the others, bounced ahead to scout out the area but came back almost immediately, losing its footing on a particularly large patch of ice along the way and careening into the back of Kurogane's knees, almost taking him out (Kurogane just _knew_ the manjuu had done that on purpose).

"A town, a town!" Mokona chirped happily, completely unconcerned by the fact that Kurogane had grabbed its ears and was seriously contemplating whether or not a muff would have any effect against the pervasive cold. Probably not, he decided regretfully, tossing Mokona carelessly over his shoulder and heading in the direction it had indicated. Besides, if it turned out that the wizard had already made it into town and had spent the last few hours drinking in some nice warm tavern, he was going to have something much larger to skin.

The group reached the town in record time (Mokona still crying to Sakura about being abused), and Kurogane lost no time in going up to the first building he saw and pounding on the door. He waited a few seconds, but when there was no answer he began hitting it more insistently. "OI! Open up!" he called threateningly, but his practiced glower was wasted on the closed door. Syaoran had already moved on to the next house and was knocking somewhat more politely but every bit as urgently.

Sakura, meanwhile, had somehow managed to end up the sole possessor of Syaoran's cloak and had warmed up enough to wander up and down the main street, looking around curiously. "Ne, it's beginning to get dark, wouldn't you say?" she asked no one in particular.

"Ah, so?" Kurogane barked impatiently, finally giving up on the house as a lost cause and turning back toward the others.

"In that case, it seems a little strange that all of the buildings are dark too," Sakura commented hesitantly.

Syaoran abandoned his futile efforts as well and stepped back to the road, taking in the circle of buildings surrounding them. "You're right – by now there ought to be at least a few lights."

"...Hn," Kurogane allowed. After a moment's consideration, he strode up to the nearest doorway and calmly smashed his fist into the door, popping it off its hinges.

"Ku-kurogane-san!" Syaoran stuttered, sounding vaguely scandalized (though he lost no time in shepherding the princess inside, Kurogane noted with an internal smirk). "Are you sure...?"

("Kurogane's so cool!" Mokona squealed over Syaoran's protests, bouncing up and down in Sakura's arms.)

The ninja hmphed, instinctively glancing around the room for possible danger. "If it's this dark and there aren't any lights, either the people don't want to draw any attention to themselves, in which case they'd have already made it obvious they didn't want us here, or –"

"– Or there aren't any people at all," Syaoran finished. "Still, we don't know the culture. It's possible that –"

"Maybe _you_ want to freeze to death, but I'd just as soon be inside before night really falls," Kurogane interrupted irritably, effectively ending the conversation. Syaoran glanced over at the princess, who was already in the process of searching for something that all three cultures would define as "food", then nodded and busied himself at the fireplace while Kurogane checked out the building.

It was obviously built with practicality in mind rather than comfort – there was only one room, with two smaller alcoves that proved to be a pantry and bathroom, respectively. The only real furnishings were basic kitchen equipment and two large wardrobes; thick, furry rugs evidently doubled as seating. There were few windows and only the one door, which luckily hadn't actually broken when Kurogane hit it; after eyeing it for a minute, he was able to fit it back into the frame with a minimum of swearing.

Meanwhile, Syaoran had managed to get a respectable fire going and had moved on to helping Sakura and Mokona hunt through the pantry. Fortunately, most of the food seemed to have been designed for storage – dried meat, dried fruit, bars made of something Mokona cheerfully assured them was almost certainly edible, and so on.

"So where are we starting tomorrow?" Kurogane asked brusquely as they settled around the fireplace with their makeshift meal.

"We have to look for Fai-san and the feather, of course..." Syaoran said distractedly, too wrapped up in making plans to pay much attention to whom he was speaking or to what he was eating. Kurogane had the distinct impression that if the wizard were there, the kid would probably already have been fed several things that hadn't originally been on the menu. Kurogane would have been horrified to realize that he was learning to think like Fai, but luckily for everyone involved, the ninja's subconscious had a healthy sense of self-preservation and was rather good at blocking out threats to its well-being.

"Also... I'd like to know what happened here," Syaoran added suddenly, looking puzzled and more than a little worried. "For a whole town to be empty like this, it must have been something terrible. I mean, I know they might just be nomadic or something, but..."

"But with our luck, it probably has something to do with the feather," Kurogane agreed. "Oi, manjuu!" he growled suddenly, as a thought struck him. "There _is_ a feather here, right?"

Mokona concentrated for a moment, then shook its head uncertainly. "Mokona can't tell. There's lots of reeeeally strong power here, but it's all concentrated and layered. Mokona can't separate it."

Syaoran nodded, accepting the news in stride. "Then first thing tomorrow we'll have to cover some ground and see if you can get a better feel for it."

"Ah, if we're getting up early, we'd better get some sleep!" Sakura piped up from where she had been sitting quietly, staring into the fire and absently petting Mokona. "I'll go find some bedding!" She got up quickly and ran over to one of the wardrobes. Talk of the feathers made her uncomfortable, Kurogane knew; it was a reminder that three perfect strangers were, in her mind, risking their lives just to help her. No matter how often he and the wizard talked about their own motives for the trip, it didn't keep her from feeling indebted to them – and moreso to Syaoran, who had no such excuse. It was also a reminder of how even those precious few memories they'd recovered were fragmented – something important always missing, something she remembered not remembering. Kurogane hmphed quietly to himself, then deliberately turned his head and closed his eyes. Not his business.

It didn't help that she was small and slight and had kind, gentle eyes that were uncannily like his own princess's, though. He wondered sometimes whether it wasn't a requirement for being a princess – a sort of inherent defense mechanism to attract their knights, like a sweet scent attracted bees to flowers.

Then Kurogane remembered Tomoyo towering over him in a way that should have been impossible for someone half his height, brandishing some weird hooked sticks in one hand and a fistful of brightly colored yarn in the other, insisting that it was high time he learned something _useful_, like crochet, and amended the flower to a flytrap. He shivered involuntarily before a sudden thud caught his attention and made him realize that Sakura was having difficulty with the bedding.

Syaoran had already leapt up and was helping her untangle the mass of fabric that had all rolled out of the wardrobe at once – housekeeping had obviously not been a high priority with the owner. As Syaoran worked on tugging a blanket out of the mess, a dangling sleeve caught Sakura's eye. She pulled on it carefully, trying not to rip it off, and finally succeeded in removing a coat from the knot. She moved a little closer to the fire and spread it out for a better look.

She gasped.

Syaoran's head shot up immediately. "What is it, Princess?"

"This..." Sakura gestured at the coat, too surprised to get the words out. She paused, took a breath, and tried again. "This is Fai-san's coat!"

Kurogane sat up abruptly. "Huh?"

Sakura ran her hands over the fabric as she spoke, pointing out each detail as Syaoran knelt down next to her, Mokona popping up in between them to get a better view. "Not the big floppy one, but the one he wears under it. It's not exactly the same – Fai-san's is a lot longer, plus he has some sort of armband, and there are big buckles to fasten it shut at the bottom. But the cut and colors are the same, and so is the black sash. Also, the…" Sakura's fingers ghosted over the pattern as she tried to find the right words to describe it. "The loopy, flowery design on the sleeves is the same as on the sleeves of his floppy coat!"

"Sakura's right," Mokona added, nodding fervently enough to send its ears swishing every which way. "Mokona has ridden on Fai's shoulders a lot, so Mokona would know!"

Syaoran poked at the cloth gingerly, as though he were half-expecting it to vanish if he looked at it too hard. "It's a distinctive pattern. You're right – it's too similar to be a coincidence. Fai-san _did_ say that his country was very cold.""

"But that means..." Sakura's voice trembled just a bit as she clutched at the coat. "If what Fai-san wanted most was to avoid coming back here and now he's all by himself somewhere..."

Syaoran bit his lip. "We can't go too far tonight – it's dark and Fai-san never told us anything about this world; we don't know how dangerous it is. But I'll go look around town and see if I can't find..." his voice faltered. "Well, _something_, anyway," Syaoran finished lamely. Yes, it was obviously futile – the likelihood of actually finding anything helpful was ridiculously low – but it was still infinitely more appealing than staying in the house until morning, pretending to sleep while worrying about Fai and watching the princess fret herself sick.

Kurogane snorted. "Brilliant plan." He stood up, grabbing his sword from where it had been lying at his side. "Try to find another coat. I'll make a couple of torches."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: CLAMP understands the concept of "fanfiction" only too well.

Spoilers: None in this chapter.

Pairings: May contain trace amounts of Kurogane/Fai (Sakura/Syaoran is a given). For clarification, this _does_ mean "trace amount", i.e. not that much (in fact, every time I tweak the outline, there seems to be less and less). At some point I'll write a ridiculously fluffy Kuro/Fai piece to make up for it.

A/N: Thank you _so_ much to everyone who reviewed! Also, thank you to Cloud Fallen Angel for pointing out that I had it set to allow signed reviews only; I had completely forgotten to poke around my account and check to be sure I had everything set appropriately. I think I have everything toggled nicely now. This fic's turning into a monster, though…

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Kurogane leaned against the doorframe, resisting the urge to roll his eyes as he watched the scene before him.

"_Please_, Syaoran-kun! I promise I won't slow you down!" Sakura pleaded, holding on tightly to one of the coats they had managed to extricate from the Gordian knot of clothes that had somehow spread out until it had taken over half the floor without actually untangling. Mokona had burrowed underneath at one point to try and help work things loose; no one had seen it since.

Syaoran swallowed hard and looked anywhere but at those beseeching eyes. His belief that it was for the princess's own good had given him the ability to refuse her thus far, but he wasn't stupid; he knew better than to push his luck. "Please stay here and go to sleep, Princess Sakura," he asked the fireplace patiently (for the fifth time, by Kurogane's increasingly impatient reckoning; the wardrobe had only rated twice). "If there's anything to find, Kurogane-san and I will find it, I promise. Fai-san wouldn't want you to get sick trying to help him."

"I'm no more likely to get sick than you are!" Sakura insisted. "Besides –"

"Syaoran-kun is right, Sakura-chan. I'd feel terrible if either of you got sick on my account," a familiar and entirely too cheerful voice chimed in agreeably. Three heads swiveled in unison to see that on the other side of the room, Mokona (still halfway caught in a sleeve) had started projecting without anyone noticing, and right next to Kurogane's head –

"Gah!" Kurogane yelped, jumping back several steps as a life-size image of Fai laughed and waved at him, entirely too amused at the ninja's reaction. "BASTARD! What are you doing there?"

"Fai-san! Are you all right?" Sakura cried, rather more tactfully.

"I'm fine," Fai assured them, still smiling as though it were perfectly normal for him to disappear at random intervals and pop up later in non-corporeal fashion. Which, all things considered, was entirely possible, but it still pissed Kurogane the hell off. He fully intended to make sure Fai knew this (not that there was any doubt in Kurogane's mind that the wizard was not only completely aware of it butwas doing it on purpose), but Syaoran had already started asking questions, so Kurogane swallowed his annoyance – made easier by the fact that he would likely be screaming at the wizard for something else within the next two or three minutes anyway – and settled back to listen. That guy always gave away as little as he could manage without sounding like he was hiding anything, especially when the kid and the princess were listening, but over time, Kurogane had found that most of what the wizard said was in what he _didn't_ say. Knowing which parts of his story to call him on when they were alone usually got a few extra details out of him.

"So if you're talking to us through Mokona, does that mean you're with the Dimension Witch?" Syaoran asked curiously.

"That's right," Fai confirmed, nodding enthusiastically enough to send his hair flying around his face.

"But... why?" Sakura asked, chewing on her bottom lip thoughtfully. Judging from the way the kid stiffened and quickly turned his eyes back to the wizard, Kurogane was fairly certain that if she had added that to her begging repertoire earlier, all three of them would be outside at the moment.

"Do you remember what I requested from the Dimension Witch?" Fai prompted.

"Oh..." Syaoran breathed, eyes widening in dawning comprehension. "Because you wanted to travel without returning home..."

"Pin-pon!" Fai sang, obviously pleased that Syaoran had gotten it so quickly. "I asked to never return and I paid a fair price for it, so the Dimension Witch set it up so that I would be directed to her shop via the black Mokona if our Mokona ever landed in Celes! They certainly _are_ convenient, aren't they? Ah – speaking of Mokona, do you have any idea where the feather might be yet?"

Kurogane watched Fai talk, eyes narrowed. The wizard was more manic than usual – normally he spoke deliberately when he wasn't running his mouth for the hell of it, applying his words exactly where they would have the strongest effect (manipulative bastard that he was), but now they were all tumbling out at once as though he could hardly restrain himself. That coupled with the slight jitter the projection gave Fai's image – barely noticeable, but once it caught his attention it was damned annoying – was giving him an even bigger headache than the wizard _usually_ caused.

Syaoran shook his head, drooping a little as his relief at finding Fai safe (although Kurogane's admittedly narrower definition of the word "safe" most definitely did _not_ involve that Dimension Witch or those creepy, glassy-eyed little kid-doll-_things_ working for her) gave way to the problem at hand. "Mokona said that there was too much magic on this world and that it couldn't tell if there was a feather or not."

"I suppose there would be, wouldn't there?" Fai agreed neutrally, his smile sinking a bit and tightening reflexively. The edge was only there for a second before it gave way, and the expression that replaced it was so honestly bright that Kurogane glanced away for moment, not sure what to make of it. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd expected the wizard's reaction to be, but this definitely didn't fit. He looked back to the projection in time to see said creepy, glassy-eyed little kid-doll-_things_ creep into the image, standing well behind the wizard and watching all of them intently. Kurogane glared at them on general principle before realizing that something didn't look quite right – something _aside_ from the fact that the things existed in the first place, that was.

"Where are you, anyway?" Fai was asking with interest.

"It's a very small, isolated town; we walked a long way without seeing anything else. Ah!" Syaoran straightened back up as he remembered what had been worrying him earlier. "Fai-san, do you know why–"

"You're on the _ground_? Really?" Fai leaned forward, eyes wide. "That would make sense, of course, but I haven't been down there in so long... I suppose I'd almost forgotten."

"On the... ground?" Syaoran asked cautiously. "By that, you mean...?"

"Just 'it's a small town' doesn't tell me much, though," Fai mused. "Did you happen to see where it was in relation to the castle?"

"Castle?" Sakura asked, tilting her head (Probably a last-ditch attempt to keep _some_ of the discussion from going over it, Kurogane groused; the idiot obviously prided himself on his inability to carry a coherent conversation). "We didn't _see_ one..."

That was it. The Dimension Witch's damned brats weren't jittering the way the wizard was. _He's shaking with relief,_ Kurogane realized abruptly, the man's over-bright smile and excessively hyper behavior suddenly falling into place. _He knew this might happen, and he's been dreading ending up here with us the whole time._

Somehow the explanation did absolutely nothing to reduce his headache.

Fai looked surprised for a moment, then smiled knowingly. "How dark was it when you found this house?"

"It was twilight..." Syaoran said slowly, trying to puzzle out what Fai was driving at.

Fai laughed. "Go look outside now."

Syaoran and Sakura blinked at each other, but obediently got up and went outside, Syaoran remembering to grab a coat for Sakura on the way out (though Kurogane was not the least bit surprised to see that he forgot to take one for himself; the ninja sincerely doubted that it would actually cross his mind that he ought to be cold).

Kurogane glanced at Fai, beaming at him from Mokona's projection, the creepy brat still silently watching them both. "You should go look too, Kuro-pyon; it's very pretty, really," the wizard said encouragingly.

Kurogane ignored him. "Oi," he began gruffly, but then a noise that sounded remarkably like "HOE?" came from outside, and the ninja got to his feet, glowering darkly in a way that completely failed to faze the wizard as he went to check on the kids.

The kid and the princess had only gone a few steps from the door; both of them were staring straight up at the sky, heads tilted so far back that they looked as though their necks would snap at any moment. Kurogane snorted at the picture they made, then glanced up himself - and had to bite back a "HOE?" of his own.

It looked, he reflected later, after his heartrate had slowed back down to an acceptable level, as though someone had carved an enormous, sprawling castle from the top of a mountain, then promptly knocked the mountain out from under it, leaving the castle where it was. They hadn't done any too neat a job of it, either; the base was ragged, leaving the bottom of the lower towers crumbling dangerously, and bridges still extended from the gates, delicately reaching out to nothing at all. Kurogane was beginning to understand how this country spawned something like the wizard; those in charge obviously had a stunning disregard for common sense. They were standing at a bad angle, too close to the structure to be able to see all of it, but Kurogane could just glimpse a building presiding over the rest, built in a strikingly different style from the chunky, inelaborate towers beneath it. It was hard to make out, though, surrounded as it was by what looked like wings of ice, glowing with a light that didn't seem to originate from the moon.

The fact that it was indeed quite eerily lovely was lost on Kurogane, who'd officially more than filled his weirdness quotient for the day. He stalked inside, the kid and the princess following close behind, where the wizard was absently humming to himself; it sounded like a children's song. _"Where-the-hell-did-that-come-from?"_ he seethed.

"Ah, you were able to see it, then?" Fai asked amiably, breaking off mid-verse. "It's not that it _came_ from somewhere, Kuro-pippi; it's always there. It's only visible after the moon has fully risen, though," he added as an afterthought, as though it were the most reasonable thing in the world.

Kurogane was sincerely beginning to wish that the wizard were there with them; it would greatly simplify the process of wringing his neck.

"Why is it set up that way?" Syaoran asked, all wide-eyed fascination. Kurogane had long since realized that it was impossible to convince the kid that there was a difference between "unique cultural experience" and "pain in the ass".

"Most of the magic in Celes is moon-based. The wizards that protected the castle were most powerful when the moon was out, so the rest of the time, it was safer for it to be a little less... conspicuous," Fai explained delicately.

"But..." Sakura was nearly cross-eyed with concentration, grasping desperately at wisps of memory. "Yukito-san had moon magic too, and he could pretty much use it any time. I mean, I think he could. Did it really make that much of a difference here?"

"Not that much of a difference, really." Fai's smile was a little distant now. "It wasn't always that way; that was an extra precaution added afterward."

"Afterward?" Syaoran asked curiously, but Fai had already moved on.

"So! How far are you from the castle?" the wizard asked brightly, clapping his hands together for emphasis.

"Um," Syaoran faltered, the abruptness of the change throwing him off. "It was almost right overhead – we couldn't see the whole way up."

"You must be in one of the guard towns, then; they're the only ones nearly that close!" Fai concluded with obvious satisfaction. "That works out very well – you can get to the castle easily from there."

"Why do we need to go there?" Sakura wondered aloud, blinking up at the wizard.

"Magic attracts magic, you know; the feathers are always drawn to power of some kind," Fai reminded her gently. "And there is no stronger magic anywhere on Celes. If there's a feather, it will be pulled there."

"How do we get to the castle, then?" Syaoran asked seriously, his scholarly interests promptly forgotten in his determination to find the feather as quickly as possible.

"There should be a large building toward the center of the town; if you go inside, you'll see some sigils on the wall. Let's see..." Fai patted his clothes, fumbling around in his voluminous pockets before fishing out a scrap of paper and a pen (these were easily the least peculiar of the various and sundry things the wizard kept tucked away in his coat pockets "just in case"; aside from returning to his world, Kurogane's greatest goal in life was to never find out just what _actually_ peculiar entailed. There had been several times where they had left all the cloaks together in a heap and he had come back to find Fai's outer coat a good foot away from the others. Kurogane never returned it to the pile; it was a worthy effort, and he couldn't really blame it for wanting to escape anyway).

"Ah, like this!" Fai exclaimed, proudly displaying a quick sketch of a half-dozen abstract images that meant absolutely nothing to the ninja. "If you touch this one, this one, and this one in that order, it will transport the people in the room to one of the outer gates of the castle," he announced, using the pen to indicate the ones he meant.

"It's that simple?" Syaoran asked, sounding just a bit skeptical (the one constant, no matter what world they were in, was that it was _never_ that simple).

"The system was designed to bring the soldiers to the castle as quickly as possible in case of emergency," Fai explained reassuringly. "There were very few people capable of using magic on Celes, so it had to be a spell that didn't require magic to activate it. You should be careful not to touch any of the sigils aside from the ones I showed you, though," he added offhandedly. "That would probably be unpleasant."

"A-all right..." Syaoran agreed faintly, obviously wondering if there was anything else Fai had neglected to include in his instructions. Kurogane snorted. For someone who claimed to be so concerned with making sure the kid relaxed, the idiot seemed to take an unholy joy in unnerving him.

"I'll go check for the building now!" Sakura declared. She grabbed her coat and bounded out the door before Syaoran had a chance to protest, utterly determined to be useful somehow.

"Princess!" Syaoran blurted out, sounding panicky; the conversation had done little to appease his already hyper-sensitive protective streak. He was halfway across the room before Kurogane's "Oi, kid" caught his attention; he turned around just in time to get a faceful of coat. Syaoran caught it instinctively, blinking down at it blankly for a moment before his mind backtracked and reminded him that yes, he _was_ capable of freezing to death, and if he did so, it was going to make it that much harder to look after Sakura. "Thank you, Kurogane-san!" Syaoran called, yanking the door open, coat flapping behind him as he tried to pull it on and run at the same time.

Kurogane avoided looking at the wizard with studied nonchalance. He didn't need to see the smug "Kuro-myuu's such a good daddy!" smile to know it was there; it was _radiating_ off the idiot. "You're really never coming back here, huh?" the ninja asked instead, hoping to cut him off.

"I told you, Kuro-pii, my wish was to avoid going home," the wizard said easily; he had obviously anticipated the question. "A price once paid cannot be returned, but the same goes for the service engaged; neither side can break the deal. I'm not sure I _could_ go back even if I wanted it."

"Hn," Kurogane grunted disapprovingly, but he let it go. "So what happened to the people?"

It was silent for a moment. "You should feel free to take anything you need from the town," Fai answered eventually, his tone light and pleasant. "It would be a shame to see it all go to waste. Oh, and don't let Sakura-chan wander around the castle by herself; I don't think she'd like it very much."

Kurogane was utterly sick of being jerked around by stupid games and half-answers that created more confusion than they cleared up. He stalked closer to the projection, movements fluid with a casual menace that left no doubt that he killed people for a living. "What're you playing at?" he fumed. "For someone so determined to keep whatever secrets you've got, you're acting awfully unconcerned about all this."

"Hmm?" Fai asked, his smile becoming sharper, though his tone was still mild. "What am I supposed to be so concerned _about_, Kuro-rin?"

"How about that Ashura guy?" Kurogane challenged, locking eyes with the wizard and taking grim satisfaction in seeing his face take on that curious dead quality that, if he were to be honest, was the reason he could never bring himself to fully trust the other man. "You say you never came down to the ground, so he's gotta be up in that castle you're hurrying us off to. What's waiting for us up there? What will setting off that spell _really_ do?"

"Kuro-pon! I'm not trying to kill you!" the wizard exclaimed, sounding honestly startled – though whether it was at the implication or at the fact that Kurogane called him on it, the ninja wasn't sure.

"Prove it," Kurogane demanded, eyes narrowed.

Fai sighed melodramatically. "_Really_, Kuro-chi. You don't put _any_ faith in my affection for all of you?" he pouted, but at Kurogane's disbelieving look, it turned into a wry half-smile, though there was no amusement in the gesture. "Fine, then. In that case, do you really think that your deaths would benefit me at all?" the wizard asked, leaning forward intently. "A feather on Celes is much more dangerous to me than anything else; an anomalistic power like that would be more likely to awaken Ashura-ou than the four of you. If you find the feather and take it away without disturbing anything, then there's no problem, don't you think? If you _do_ end up somehow breaking the spell, then I'm sure that between you and Syaoran-kun, you can handle him."

"You –" Kurogane was livid at the thought that the wizard fully intended to use them to fight _his_ personal battle, but it only lasted a moment before the ninja sagged, suddenly exhausted. It was, after all, no more than he'd really expected; he shouldn't act like it had been a surprise. "Bastard, you really wouldn't think twice about letting us die if it was convenient for you, would you?" he accused, but there was no real force behind it.

Fai merely looked at him, eyes heavy and dark, but if he was trying to tell Kurogane something, the ninja couldn't make it out. It didn't matter much anyway, because a few seconds later the door came crashing open and the kid and the princess scurried in, pressed close together. "We found it!" Sakura cried proudly, making a valiant effort to keep her teeth from chattering even as Syaoran lead her over to the fire. "Syaoran-kun got the door open, and we found the signs and everything!"

"Good job, both of you!" Fai cheered, grinning at them. Sakura beamed, and Syaoran's face softened, watching her. Kurogane deliberately turned away from the scene.

"Hmm? Fai, are you _still_ talking? I'm going to have to charge extra if you go too long, you know," a woman's voice called out. Kurogane looked back to the projection and realized that at some point, those creepy little brats must have left the room (that they had managed to do so without him noticing did not improve his mood in the least), because they were hanging onto the Dimension Witch as she came into the scene, smirking slightly as she caught sight of the group.

"Of course," the wizard said amenably, bowing slightly as he moved aside a bit to make room for the Witch. That Sorata guy had implied that the Witch was pretty well-known, but Kurogane was beginning to wonder just what the hell they _said_ about her that could make that idiot act like he knew how to be respectful.

"How's your journey going?" the Witch asked, surveying them with a quick glance that seemed to take in every detail (she was probably calculating what they'd all be worth at current market prices, Kurogane grumbled to himself).

"We've found several feathers since we talked to you last," Sakura offered shyly, bowing and then standing up as straight as she could. "It's tough sometimes, but everyone's trying so hard for me!" The last was said with a shy glance at Syaoran, who turned predictably red but managed a smile anyway.

"Is that so? I'm glad," the Witch said coolly, but she was smiling as well; Sakura had that effect on people. She leaned forward, putting her hands on Fai's shoulders. "In that case, good luck. Fai will rejoin you once you leave his world."

"Thank you for taking care of Fai-san for us!" Sakura responded gratefully, bowing again.

Kurogane blinked. He hadn't really considered where the wizard would be staying, but it suddenly hit him all at once.

That idiot wizard.

That psychotic woman.

Together.

For an extended period of time.

Giving each other ideas.

Kurogane twitched.

The witch tilted her head just a bit until she was looking right at him, her smile widening as if she knew what he was thinking ("as if" nothing, Kurogane seethed; she knew _exactly_ what he was thinking and she thought it was _funny_ and as soon as this curse was lifted he was gonna make his way back there and–) "Don't worry," she said smoothly. "I'll take _excellent_ care of him." Her hold on the wizard tightened slightly for emphasis.

By the time Kurogane was capable of something other than incoherent sputterings, the projection had dissolved.

* * *

"I need to thank you as well," Fai added as the image faded. "I'm very grateful for everything you've done."

Yuuko regarded him impassively. "I'm simply holding up my end of the bargain, nothing more. Besides," she smirked, taking a piece of paper from one of the children and presenting it to him with a flourish, "you still have to pay for your room and board and for making long-distance calls on Mokona."

Fai took the paper, blinking down at it. "A recipe?"

"For an elixir. You can make it for me tomorrow," Yuuko said lazily, collapsing onto a convenient sofa. "Maru and Moro will show you where." She leaned her head back and saw that Fai's face had closed off, the smile gone as he scanned the lines, concentrating intently. "Don't worry," she commented, bemused. "You don't need to use magic to make it; the magic in your blood is enough."

The wizard's head shot up, startled and a little wary, and Yuuko laughed. "Before that... Maru, Moro, we have a guest."

"A guest, a guest!" the children chanted, scampering out of the room only to reappear loaded down with several bottles of alcohol and three glasses.

Yuuko poured a generous glassful and held it out toward Fai invitingly. "How about a drink?" she asked, grinning.

Fai grinned back and accepted the glass as the Dimension Witch poured another and handed it down to a yawning black Mokona. Perhaps he would like this place after all.

* * *

He was not entirely sure what to make of his hostess, Fai reflected much later as the two soulless children dragged him to the room the Dimension Witch had indicated he would be staying in (he was glad for the escort, frankly; it had been hard to understand exactly where she meant, seeing as she refused to put down the beer long enough to tell him). The sheer amount of power she commanded was somewhere between amazing and terrifying, but he couldn't be _too_ intimidated by anyone who so instinctively understood the myriad joys of baiting Kuro-wan; it was, in all honesty, a bit of a relief. While he was terribly fond of all of his teammates, he had to admit that Mokona was the only one of the group with anything even remotely resembling a sense of humor. And he _was_ terribly fond of them, whatever Kuro-run might think.

_"Bastard, you really wouldn't think twice about letting us die if it was convenient for you, would you?"_

The question had been hovering around the back of Fai's mind ever since the conversation ended (but then, that was Kuro-sama for you – hardly eloquent, but his words _did_ tend to stick with one). Really, the man needed to work on his people skills. If there were anything Fai could think of to ensure the others' safety that _didn't_ involve facing Ashura-ou, he would try it. But as it was, he wasn't Syaoran-kun; simply deciding that he wanted to do something didn't automatically mean that he could do it. Currently his hands were more than full just trying to clean up the mess he'd already gotten himself into. Right now, keeping himself alive, keeping Ashura-ou alive, and keeping as much distance as physically possible between the two of them was as much as he could manage. The others were quite capable of taking care of themselves.

It was true that the situation had turned rather unexpectedly to his advantage, though. With any kind of luck, the group could get the feather and get out with no unnecessary complications. If Ashura-ou _were_ to awaken, Syaoran-kun and Kuro-pan were capable of defeating him; Kuro-bun's skill really _was_ impressive, and what Syaoran-kun lacked in experience, he made up for in determination. And Ashura-ou wouldn't die. Kuro-mii couldn't afford it, and Syaoran-kun was still endearingly naive enough to balk at killing his enemies when he could help it. Ashura-ou wouldn't die – but Fai didn't doubt that Kuro-chan knew how to incapacitate someone _quite_ thoroughly without actually killing him. By the time Ashura-ou recovered enough to follow them, they could be any number of worlds away, and as long as he refrained from using his magic (not that he would have been inclined touse it anyway), Ashura-ou would have a difficult time tracking them down. Even if the two fighters ended up not being able to win against Ashura-ou, Mokona would have the sense to get them all away before anything happened. And if Mokona wasn't quick enough...

Well. He didn't think it likely, anyway.

"Your room's here!" the two children sang out in unison, stopping at a doorway. Fai thanked them, and they smiled cutely up at him with cold, knowing eyes before running off, giggling to each other. Deliberately ending his train of thought, Fai went off to bed, cheerfully humming the tune that had been stuck in his head earlier.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: CLAMP understands the concept of "fanfiction" only too well.

Pairings: Possible trace amounts of Kurogane/Fai; Sakura/Syaoran is a given.

A/N: This chapter reads a bit better with a working knowledge of the xxxHOLiC cast, but if you haven't read it, it's not desperately important; Fai doesn't know what Yuuko's talking about either. As always, much thanks to everyone who reviewed!

* * *

Kurogane's mood had improved marginally with a night's sleep, which is to say that when he awoke to find that Mokona had crawled into his bedding in the middle of the night and was currently cuddled up under his chin, he only flung the manjuu across the room instead of kicking it out the door and slamming down the bolt, as was his first impulse (the fact that he wasn't entirely certain whether the bolt still worked may or may not have been a factor). The manjuu barely twitched, nuzzling into the furry rug and sleepily mumbling something about giant squid before settling back down. Sakura, who had woken up when Mokona ricocheted off her stomach, poked it experimentally for a moment before declaring that Moko-chan had worked hard yesterday, letting them have such a long conversation, and that they should let it sleep in.

Sakura was as cheerful as ever, and Syaoran was never too preoccupied to smile at her whenever she spoke to him, but breakfast was still quiet and low-key without Mokona trying to steal Kurogane's food and the wizard stirring up general chaos wherever he could manage it. Instead of enjoying the reprieve, however, Kurogane found himself more paranoid than usual, force of habit making him tense up at random intervals in anticipation of a sudden noise that would get him to turn around for the instant it took for his bowl to miraculously vanish or for an abrupt force-feeding of something nauseatingly sweet; it was ruining what he knew could quite possibly be the only peaceful meal he was ever going to get on this journey. Obviously this was the wizard's fault as well - that guy couldn't even be _gone_ without being conspicuous about it - but it was something closer to the usual sort of annoyance, familiar enough to further dull the edge of his anger.

That didn't mean he liked the situation any better, though, and while there was no point in protesting - much as he hated to admit it, the damned wizard was right; they didn't have much choice in the matter - he silently glowered his opinion whenever Sakura brought up the castle, chattering away happily about wanting to see where Fai-san lived. He was busy scowling at the way the princess was bustling around, trying her best to fit all the clothes and bedding back into the wardrobe (the clothes and bedding appeared to be enjoying their newfound freedom, however, and were rather loathe to give it up; at this point, the two sides seemed about evenly matched) when Syaoran, who had been busy making sure that they had pulled enough coats for each of them from the pile, came over to where he was leaning against the wall. "Kurogane-san?" he asked tentatively.

"Ah?" Kurogane drawled, not paying much attention. The princess was putting up a valiant struggle. So was the mass of fabric.

"I know you don't believe everything Fai-san said last night, or at least, that you think he left out things we ought to know," Syaoran began awkwardly, keeping his voice low and glancing over at the princess to make sure that she was still occupied and that she hadn't been smothered by an especially enthusiastic blanket. "And I know that Fai-san is good at lying, and that he's hiding a lot of things -" Kurogane shot him a distinctly unimpressed look, and the kid flushed and got on with it. "What I mean is that even so, I think that we should trust Fai-san, that's all. I don't really understand him," he admitted, somewhat ruefully, "but every time I'm worried or upset, he knows exactly what's bothering me and what I need to hear. He's always helped us out before, and even if the circumstances are a little different this time, I think that he'll still help in any way he _can_," Syaoran finished firmly, looking up at Kurogane with that particularly serious, determined expression that, as far as the ninja was concerned, usually meant that things were about to get unnecessarily complicated.

Kurogane did have to admit that the kid's rampant idealism was impressive, in a "how-the-hell-are-you-still-alive?" sort of way, but it wasn't terribly convincing. "That guy only helps when he gets something out of it," he grunted, looking back to the princess and hoping that the kid would take the hint.

Unfortunately, body language was apparently not one of the many Syaoran was fluent in - either that, or he'd been spending too much time with the wizard and had picked up on his talent for ignoring anything more subtle than the threat of imminent dismemberment. The boy shook his head, frowning. "Fai-san fought for me in Hanshin, even though he didn't really have to, and he gave up his staff in Koryo so we could break into the Ryanban's castle."

"The only reason he did _that_ was so we wouldn't try and make him use his _own_ magic," Kurogane snapped. "Besides, you're forgetting that he suggested we kidnap that brat first."

"Fai-san came from a different world than either of ours," Syaoran said quietly. "He's used to doing things in a different way. But he's a good person. I don't know exactly what he said to you last night, but you think so too, Kurogane-san, or you wouldn't have gotten so angry at him."

It was probably a coincidence that right about then, the mass of fabric saw an opening and went in for the kill, prompting Sakura to let out a muffled squeak as she lost her balance and was rather abruptly and unceremoniously buried. It was also possible that Sakura's luck extended to keeping the person she loved alive long enough for her to _realize_ that she loved him. Either way, Syaoran quickly broke off what was developing into a rather intense staredown with one last significant look and ran over to help her, leaving Kurogane to seethe by himself and resolve to keep a closer eye on the kid in the future. He was obviously entirely too impressionable to leave with the wizard unattended; bad enough that the idiot's nosiness and inability to keep his mouth shut were starting to rub off, but if the kid slipped and called him "Kuro-rin" so much as _once_, he was going to tear _both_ their tonsils out, and then he'd have to stand there and pretend to be paying attention when the princess scolded him for it.

* * *

"Dimension Witch-saaaaan!" Fai called, knocking politely on a door chosen at random before poking his head through. It was, generally speaking, a very bad idea to wander around the house of a powerful magic user when one was not thoroughly well-versed in all of said magic user's little quirks and eccentricities, which usually carried over into the various forms of security; goodness knows Fai knew _that_ well enough, considering how often guests tended to stop by _his_ chambers without waiting for a formal invitation. They usually didn't even have the decency to clean up after themselves - well, not that they _could_, really (not afterwards, anyway, and the only truly effective preventative measure would be for them not to come at all; Fai was evidently in the minority for preferring this option), but it was the thought that counted, and the wizard sincerely doubted that it would have occurred to them. Even so, he was fairly certain that the house knew he was the Witch's guest, and as long as he didn't consider doing anything that might result in his not being a guest any more, it seemed inclined to be mildly sympathetic toward him; at any rate, if he managed to look pathetically lost enough, doors tended to lead to the places he wanted to go even when he was reasonably certain they had just lead somewhere else a minute earlier.

This time was no exception; the door opened to what Fai assumed to be the main room of the shop, wide and empty aside from a low table, an elaborate sofa, and a foot dangling over the arm of the sofa. "'Yuuko' is fine," the Witch said languidly as Fai approached.

Fai nodded, pleased (as impressive a title as "Dimension Witch" was, it didn't exactly flow well). "I brought the elixir you asked me to make, Yuuko-san," he explained, setting a small bottle on the table and stepping back a few paces.

"Mmm?" Yuuko glanced over at it briefly. "Oh. Good," she said flatly. She was lying on her stomach with her head resting on her arms, staring inconsolably in the direction of an empty wineglass.

Fai thought it better to take the hint before she felt the need to persuade him. "If you'd like, I could go and-"

"I _knew_ there was a reason I had you stay here!" Yuuko squealed, her ennui gone in an instant as she rolled into a sitting position with a fluid motion that made it patently obvious that the only reason her kimono stayed shut (or rather, stayed in a perpetual state of being half-open) was that she expected it to do so. Fai grinned and bowed before returning the way he came, trusting the house to direct him to the kitchen. "Don't forget the snacks!" Yuuko hollered after him as he gently slid the door shut.

Fai returned several minutes later after an interesting maneuver that involved several body parts not usually associated with holding trays as he attempted to slide the door open again without spilling his load and getting the house drunker than its mistress intended to be. "You," he announced, crouching in front of the table and setting down several bottles, some glasses, and a platter of apple slices carved to look like bunnies, "have almost no food in your kitchen."

"I know," Yuuko agreed with a pout that melted almost instantly as she greedily accepted the glass Fai handed her. "Watanuki's been sick for the last few days, and the housework's been piling up."

"Watanuki?" Fai asked curiously, pouring himself a glass at a gesture from Yuuko and sinking gracefully to the floor in what passed for him as a sitting position.

Yuuko smiled over the rim of her glass with a fond expression that Fai thought looked oddly maternal. "My part-time help - you saw him when you came the first time. He brought the Mokonas out."

Fai had an excellent memory for faces (he was a firm believer in the idea that a little paranoia was a healthy thing, and there was nothing quite like casually bringing up where a person had been and who they'd been with the night before in the middle of being introduced to said person to make him feel as though he were doing his part to cultivate it), and the mention of Mokona conjured a mental image of a slightly bewildered-looking boy with dark hair and glasses. "Is he working to pay for a wish?"

"Mmm," Yuuko nodded. "He requested that I take away his ability to see spirits."

"Really?" Fai asked, leaning forward in interest. "Sakura-chan can see spirits as well, but we've always found it very helpful. She certainly never seems troubled by it."

"How troublesome spirits are depends on the person involved," Yuuko pointed out, absent-mindedly swirling the liquid in her glass. "Sakura-chan's power is strong enough to shield her from all but the strongest outside forces unless she chooses to engage them, consciously or subconsciously. Watanuki's power calls spirits to him and allows him to see them, but it can't protect him; if the spirits are persistent, he will be forced to deal with them, whether he chooses to do so or not."

"I see..." Fai murmured, storing the information away for future reference. "Then his illness now...?"

"Is a cold," Yuuko confirmed, smirking. "He lives by himself, so I _had_ thought of sending you over to take care of him, but..."

"But?" Fai prompted.

"Well, you wouldn't be able to understand each other outside this house, and I thought it would be just _dreadful_ of me to add such undue stress and aggravation while he's recovering his precious health..." Yuuko sighed, shaking her head in horror at the thought.

"Oh, certainly," the wizard agreed, compassionately and with a straight face.

"So I sent his _dear_ friend Doumeki-kun over instead," Yuuko finished, in a voice that suggested she also routinely worked at soup kitchens and rescued small children from burning buildings.

Fai didn't know who Doumeki-kun was, but something about the number of teeth visible in Yuuko-san's smile made him think that he probably approved of the choice anyway. "How very thoughtful of you," he remarked, refilling both their glasses.

"I would have _loved_ to have gone over myself, but then I would have had to take the price of a house call out of his paycheck, and for some reason he seems to resent that," the Witch grinned, knocking back half the glass in one gulp.

"That reminds me..." Fai mentioned, sipping at his own drink a little more moderately (but with no less enthusiasm; even if he hadn't had any other reason for dimension-hopping, the trip would have been worth it as a wine-tasting tour). "When I was looking for you earlier, I saw Maru-chan and Moro-chan, ah, _escorting_ a young lady out. Was she a customer as well?"

"That woman?" Yuuko leaned back, melting bonelessly into the sofa. "On several occasions."

Fai blinked, a trifle surprised. "Do you have repeat business often? I was under the impression that your services were a little more..."

"The sort of thing you only try if you're absolutely desperate?" Yuuko suggested dryly.

Fai laughed. "Well, I suppose it's less of an occasion if you don't have to jump dimensions every time you have a request, but..."

Yuuko snorted into her glass. "You could say that, yes, but you're correct; it isn't common. That woman has only one wish, but the treatment hasn't been effective."

Well. That did not inspire confidence. Fai had been under the impression that the Dimension Witch was - not omnipotent, of course, but if she could speak that easily about failure, it opened up several uncomfortable possibilities. "Could she not afford the full price of the wish?" he asked offhandedly, keeping his sudden discomfiture out of his voice (although he needn't have bothered; Yuuko smirked at him anyway).

The Witch didn't answer immediately, though, swishing her wine and watching it slosh against the sides of the glass. "That depends on how you look at it," she said at last, just as Fai was beginning to try and think of a more subtle way of finding out what he wanted to know. "She was willing to pay me what I asked."

"Was there someone else she needed to pay as well, then?" Fai asked, instinctively relaxing his voice and body language to display only a polite level of interest.

"Herself," Yuuko shrugged. At Fai's uncomprehending look, she elaborated (and while her expression was properly neutral, Fai had the distinct impression that she would have been terribly disappointed if he had deprived her of the opportunity to lecture). "People come to our shop wanting to buy solutions to their problems, but that's not necessarily what we sell."

"Rather, you sell people the means to grant their wishes for themselves," Fai noted, watching her intently.

"Exactly." The Witch seemed pleased. "It depends on the wish, of course, but most people who are desperate enough to come to me can't afford what it would cost for me to just 'make everything better', even assuming that's something I could do. I provide services equal to a price they _can_ pay, and usually that's enough. It's human nature to survive in any way that one can, and once pointed in the right direction, most people can figure out what they need to do to keep existing.

"Some people, though," Yuuko continued, voice as smoky and heavy as the incense that permeated every inch of the house, "won't act for themselves, whether because they don't understand their situation or because they simply refuse it. But because of those survival instincts, they'll fight to keep things from getting worse for them, even as they themselves stand in the way of making any actual improvement in their circumstances. They'll keep offering more and more to anyone or anything they think might help, just to stay in the same place." The Witch's voice curled around Fai, but instead of having a hypnotic effect, it seemed to jolt him into a painful hyper-awareness. "Eventually, they'll end up paying much more than they would have been willing to give up if it had been a single agreement, without actually achieving anything at all."

Yuuko paused briefly, then shrugged and gulped down the rest of her drink. "At any rate, I can't do anything more for that woman. She'll either realize it for herself or she won't."

"I see," Fai murmured. "Thank you for the explanation." He stared into his glass for a moment before draining it, then unfolded his long limbs and stood up. "It's getting late. I should go to bed."

"I suppose it is, isn't it?" Yuuko said complacently, looking unbearably smug. "Ah, before you go..." She reached into her kimono and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Another elixir?" Fai asked without much curiosity. He accepted the slip automatically, his mind elsewhere.

"If you're tired of that, I'm sure I could come up with something more _interesting_ for you to pay with..." Yuuko trailed off suggestively, giving him a sidelong look.

Fai snapped abruptly back to the present. "Oh? And what did you have in mind?" he demurred, voice dropping to match hers.

"Hmm..." Yuuko paused, trailing one slender finger along her lower lip as she contemplated it. "In my bedroom..."

"Yes?" Fai encouraged.

"I think..." Yuuko continued slowly, catching Fai's gaze and holding it, "...that my laundry is evolving sentience."

"I wouldn't dream of depriving you of its company," Fai said brightly, then bowed. "The elixir it is, then. Goodnight, Yuuko-san."

Yuuko pouted admirably for a minute before her lips curved up into a smile and she waved him away. "Sleep well." She reached over to the tray of apple bunnies, forgotten earlier in her eagerness to get the alcohol started in her system, but her fingers abruptly stilled as the snacks actually registered for the first time. "Fai?" she called, stopping the wizard with his hand on the door.

"Yes, Yuuko-san?" Fai's voice was fluffy kittens frolicking in the sunshine.

Yuuko eyed the tray warily. "What are those... _three_... apple bunnies doing? Together?"

Fai smiled beatifically.

* * *

Watanuki stopped by Yuuko's shop the next morning on his way to school, still coughing; he really _could_ have used another day's rest, but there was no way he was going to spend another day in bed imagining all the ways that jerk Doumeki could be taking advantage of Himawari-chan (his darling Himawari-chan, so sweet and innocent that she couldn't think badly of anyone, not even Doumeki - not that _any_ girls thought badly of Doumeki, which only made him even _more_ insufferable), only to have said jerk show up after school to lord it over him, shove the nastiest cold medicine possible down his throat, and offer in that infuriatingly bland voice to _help him wash off_ (it was obviously too much to ask for Doumeki to quit making fun of him just because he was sick, and the reminder that he was dripping with sweat had made him desperate to get clean with no dignified way of doing it; that was probably just what the jerk had intended). There was also no way that he was going to admit that he'd felt better the instant Doumeki stepped in the room and the half-dozen spirits hovering over him in hopes of exploiting his weakened state had rather abruptly departed. Watanuki knew better than to hope to catch Yuuko-san awake at that hour (when she didn't have any particular incentive, at any rate, such as having coerced him into making breakfast) to rant at her about her interpretation of employee health care plans, but he had a sinking feeling that he was going to be in for a very long first day back at work, and he wanted to inspect the damage _now_ rather than have to anticipate it for the rest of the day.

Watanuki wasn't disappointed; it was obvious that no one had bothered to actually pick up after themselves or anything since he'd been sick. Even the remains of what appeared to be last night's drinking party were still out; glasses and bottles were scattered across the floor (thankfully empty), as were the dried-out remains of a bunch of apple slices - bunnies? - that someone had evidently been playing with and had left in piles around the room. Clucking his tongue in annoyance, Watanuki collected the empty glasses and bottles and dragged them off to the kitchen, keeping up a steady litany of complaints aimed at no one in particular the entire way. He returned with a garbage bag and began scooping up the apples before they had a chance to attract insects. If he noticed anything... unusual about the way the apple bunnies were positioned, he didn't add that to his list of complaints; he had learned a lot working for Yuuko, primarily that anything out of the ordinary that required his attention would be sure to get it one way or another (usually by launching itself bodily at him), and anything he didn't notice was Not His Problem.


End file.
